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Parliaments, Politics and AIDS1. Introduction1.1 Problem statementThere is sufficient consensus that HIV/AIDS presents a crisis to societies and that the multisectoralimpact of the pandemic demands a multi-sectoral response. This means role-playersfrom different sectors must participate both in framing the issues as well as in the responses.An analysis of the institutions and their specific interventions will indicate that there is eitherinsufficient political responses or that the political responses have not sufficiently added to thesolution.The Governance and AIDS Programme of IDASA (IDASA-GAP) and the Canadian ParliamentaryCentre (PC) investigated the role of parliamentary oversight in national HIV/AIDS responses.Parliaments have been requested to engage with HIV/AIDS from a legislative point of view. Theymake and review laws and policies to deal with the problems of HIV/AIDS. In addition, individualMembers of Parliament (MPs) have been requested to provide leadership in their constituenciesand at national level. However, the institutional mechanisms required to support individualMPs in their efforts are not described. Furthermore, the political dimensions of parliament as ademocratic institution have not been sufficiently investigated.1.2 BackgroundSince the first diagnosis of AIDS more than two decades ago, many aspects of the pandemic havebeen and continue to be the subject of intensive investigation. These include the bio-medical,social, cultural, economic and political aspects of the pandemic. This research by IDASA-GAPand the Canadian PC focuses on the effective use of parliamentary oversight in the nationalresponses to HIV/AIDS. This specific enquiry is part of a broader theme of governance andHIV/AIDS and seeks to illustrate the need for stronger and sustained democratic governancepractices to help societies manage the pandemic more effectively as well as lay the foundationfor a more equal, democratic society in which HIV/AIDS is normalised and no longer a crisis.The research is an assessment of how the national parliaments of Botswana, Ghana, Kenya,Mozambique and South Africa use their oversight function to inform and monitor the nationalHIV/AIDS responses. Participating, and where applicable, other African parliaments can usethe findings and recommendations to improve the oversight function in their HIV/AIDS responses.On completion of the baseline study, there were two dissemination processes of the preliminaryfindings, providing opportunities for MPs to consider and comment on these findingsand share their experiences in relation to the themes reflected in the recommendations.In September 2005 the Canadian PC convened a Policy Dialogue Forum in Senegal 1 wherethe preliminary findings were presented. In February 2006 IDASA-GAP and the Canadian PCconvened a Regional Policy Dialogue Forum in South Africa. At this latter meeting MPs had